Medical procedures often require the use of a needle and syringe for the injection of medicine into a patient or the collection of a blood sample. Often these procedures require the needle to directly access a vein or artery. The ease in doing so depends on the skill and experience of the health provider, the accessability of the patient's veins and whether the patient is prone to move during the procedure.
Devices have been developed to help the health care provider in accurately placing a needle and syringe. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,707 (Wolvek et al.), disclosing a needle guide having a body with fingers extending therefrom to create openings at either end. Support members 30, 32 facilitate insertion of a needle. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,314,568 (Loving) discloses a vascular stabilizer having a flat body with a central slot 18.
In patients where access to veins is difficult, health providers sometimes resort to using a tourniquet in order to make the veins more pronounced and easier to access. In older patients this may cause veins to rupture due to high back pressure caused by the tourniquet. Another problem with older patients is a tendency of the veins to move, making the accurate placement of a needle more difficult.
It is an object of the invention to provide a vein holder allowing for the easy access of a vein by a needle.
It is another object of the invention to provide a vein holder stretching the skin to stabilize the position of the vein relative to the skin.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide a vein holder which does not utilize a tourniquet. It is still another object of the invention to provide a vein holder which may be held in place by one hand.
These an other objects of the invention will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art after reading the disclosure of the invention.